5 Tips for Minimizing Decision Fatigue (and Maximizing Productivity)

Is it just me or does it seem like everything in our lives and businesses just gets more and more complicated?

Picking our Internet provider, figuring out the latest social media platform, navigating the endless opt-ins shoved in our faces, or understanding what’s healthy and what’s not in between a sea of different opinions.

We’re constantly bombarded with choices and decisions to make.

All of these things not only use up our time, but they also use up our mental energy. And when we use up too much mental energy, we deplete our mental resources. When we deplete our mental resources, we either make poor decisions or avoid making decisions all together. (And that’s not so good for our lives or our businesses!)

So many of us high-performers have the mindset that we have to control ALL THE THINGS.

Trust me, this is an issue I’ve dealt with (and continue to deal with) in life and business.

And when we think we’ve got to control ALL THE THINGS, we tend to make ALL THE DECISIONS.

….And we tend to get ALL THE FATIGUE. You with me?!

If not, just think about it. Do you make most of the decisions for your family? Do you still have a 9 to 5 that requires a ton of choices each day? How about all of the decisions in your business? On any normal day, how many things are you deciding, controlling, and managing?

My guess is it’s a lot! Which means you’re probably also facing a lot of decision fatigue and just plain exhaustion.

When we’re open to giving others more freedom to make decisions FOR US – we can navigate the crucial decisions more effectively and with more ease.

In my first few months of business, I realized pretty quick that I had to tackle decisions and minimize (or prevent) decision fatigue, so that I could maximize my impact, efficiency, and time.

Along the way, I’ve learned there are a couple of strategies we can implement to keep us on top of our game as often as possible…

Here are my top 5:

1. Pass off unnecessary decisions.

It doesn’t always feel this way, but we don’t have to make all the decisions in our business. In fact – this is a biggie! – there comes a point where the cost of making decisions becomes greater than the cost of passing those decisions off.

Crazy, right?

Are there any places in which you’re spending too much time making unnecessary decisions? Can you pass those unnecessary decisions off?

2. Create smart habits.

Habits take away the decision. This means that you can get things done without exerting unnecessary mental energy. Decision fatigue is gone because you’re no longer thinking about doing said thing. You just do it.

P.S. I created a 21 day habit tracker for exactly this purpose that you can download here: http://bit.ly/21dayhabittracker

3. Notice when you’re likely to get into decision fatigue and plan accordingly.

Hey, we’re not invincible. Sometimes, we’re likely to find ourselves in decision fatigue. But because it’s most important in your business to make the best decisions, not the quickest decisions, ALWAYS be willing to wait until you’re in the best mental state possible. It’ll be worth it.

4. Recognize that life and business decisions aren’t separate.

This one’s a toughie. The decisions we make in our business affect the decisions we make in our personal lives and vice versa.

They’re not mutually exclusive.

The good news is that if we can minimize our personal decisions, then we can function more effectively in our businesses. (And, again, vice versa.)

Once we start to realize how much our daily personal decisions impact our business we have tremendous opportunity to tighten those up and work much smarter (not harder) in our businesses!

5. Get support.

Being willing to ask for and receive support in our businesses is one of the keys to success. No one can run and scale a successful business on their own without being in constant decision fatigue.

There comes a time where our decision fatigue will cost us more in our businesses than the cost of hiring support. You want to make sure you’re getting the support you need before that scale tips, so that your business can continue to grow and be successful.

Alright, that’s it! Those are five of MY favorite tips for minimizing decision fatigue and maximizing productivity. Now, I’d love to hear yours! What do you do to minimize fatigue and protect your mental energy? Share with us below!

Welcome to your Lit Up Life!

Lacey Sites is a business mentor and success coach for high-performing women entrepreneurs. She has her M.S in mental health counseling and her M.B.A. She's been a therapist and the director of large non-profit. She's also the proud owner of two successful online businesses, and the co-host of the Happy Thoughts Show. Having grown her business to the multi-six figure mark in less than 16 months, Lacey has made it her mission to help other women build and grow their own service-based business that truly lights them up and gives them the personal and financial freedom as well as the impact they’ve always desired.